WHAT IS BITCOIN (BTC) ?
Bitcoin is a digital asset and a payment system invented by Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto introduced the idea on 31 October 2008 to a cryptography mailing list,[12] and released it as open-source software in 2009.[13] There have been several high profile claims to the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto; however, none of them have provided proof beyond doubt that back up their claims.[14]
The system is peer-to-peer and transactions take place between users directly, without an intermediary.[15]:4 These transactions are verified by network nodes and recorded in a public distributed ledger called the blockchain,[16] which uses bitcoin as its unit of account. Since the system works without a central repository or single administrator, the U.S. Treasury categorizes bitcoin as a decentralized virtual currency.[1] Bitcoin is often called the first cryptocurrency,[17][18][19] although prior systems existed[note 5] and it is more correctly described as the first decentralized digital currency.[15][22] Bitcoin is the largest of its kind in terms of total market value.[23]
Bitcoins are created as a reward for payment processing work in which users offer their computing power to verify and record payments into a public ledger. This activity is called mining and miners are rewarded with transaction fees and newly created bitcoins.[15] Besides being obtained by mining, bitcoins can be exchanged for other currencies,[24] products, and services.[25] When sending bitcoins, users can pay an optional transaction fee to the miners.[26]
In February 2015, the number of merchants accepting bitcoin for products and services passed 100,000.[27] Instead of 2–3% typically imposed by credit card processors, merchants accepting bitcoins often pay fees in the range from 0% to less than 2%.[28] Despite the fourfold increase in the number of merchants accepting bitcoin in 2014, the cryptocurrency did not have much momentum in retail transactions.[29] The European Banking Authority[30] and other sources[15]:11 have warned that bitcoin users are not protected by refund rights or chargebacks. The use of bitcoin by criminals has attracted the attention of financial regulators,[31] legislative bodies,[32] law enforcement,[33] and media.[34] Criminal activities are primarily centered around darknet markets and theft, though officials in countries such as the United States also recognize that bitcoin can provide legitimate financial services.[35]
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin
BITCOIN MINING - BITCOIN MINER
To form a distributed timestamp server as a peer-to-peer network, bitcoin uses a proof-of-work system similar to Adam Back's Hashcash and the internet rather than newspaper or Usenet posts.[2] The work in this system is what is often referred to as bitcoin mining.
The mining process involves identifying a value that when hashed twice with SHA-256, begins with a number of zero bits. While the average work required increases exponentially with the number of leading zero bits required, a hash can always be verified by executing a single round of double SHA-256.
For the bitcoin timestamp network, a valid "proof-of-work" is found by incrementing a nonce until a value is found that gives the block's hash the required number of leading zero bits. Once the hashing has produced a valid result, the block cannot be changed without redoing the work. As later blocks are chained after it, the work to change the block would include redoing the work for each subsequent block.
Majority consensus in bitcoin is represented by the longest chain, which required the greatest amount of effort to produce. If a majority of computing power is controlled by honest nodes, the honest chain will grow fastest and outpace any competing chains. To modify a past block, an attacker would have to redo the proof-of-work of that block and all blocks after it and then surpass the work of the honest nodes. The probability of a slower attacker catching up diminishes exponentially as subsequent blocks are added.[2]
To compensate for increasing hardware speed and varying interest in running nodes over time, the difficulty of finding a valid hash is adjusted roughly every two weeks. If blocks are generated too quickly, the difficulty increases and more hashes are required to make a block and to generate new bitcoins.[2]
Bitcoin mining is a competitive endeavor. An "arms race" has been observed through the various hashing technologies that have been used to mine bitcoins: basic CPUs, high-end GPUs common in many gaming computers, FPGAs and ASICs all have been used, each reducing the profitability of the less-specialized technology. Bitcoin-specific ASICs are now available.[5] As bitcoins become more difficult to mine, computer hardware manufacturing companies have seen an increase in sales of high-end products.[6]
Computing power is often bundled together or "pooled" to reduce variance in miner income. Individual mining rigs often have to wait for long periods to confirm a block of transactions and receive payment. In a pool, all participating miners get paid every time a participating server solves a block. This payment is proportional to the amount of work an individual miner contributed to help find that block.[7]
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_network#Bitcoin_mining
BITCOIN FAUCET
Bitcoin faucets are a reward system, in the form of a website or app, that dispenses rewards in the form of a satoshi, which is a hundredth of a millionth BTC, for visitors to claim in exchange for completing a captcha or task as described by the website.[1] There are also faucets that dispense alternative cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin faucets were developed by Gavin Andresen in 2010.[2]
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_faucet
